Mom Finds Scorpion In Bananas

By Ben PopkenDecember 1, 2008

A young mom found an Israeli Gold scorpion in a pile of bananas she picked up from ASDA, a UK supermarket chain owned by Walmart.

When she brought it back to the store, workers reportedly “giggled” and joked about how “cool” it would be to find a scorpion. The ASDA manager offered the not-amused mother of a 6-month old toddler a “double refund.” The type of scorpion is not deadly, but has a very painful sting.

@no.no.notorious: Non-organic fruits (and veggies) sometimes have little travellers on them also – I think the standard practice for imported fruits is to gas/fumigate the crates and then shake off any stowaways. Doesn’t always work 100%. No matter how many pesticides you treated the fruit with while it was growing, when it’s crated up, something is going to want to travel with it.

@TechnoDestructo: Usually true. Though most spiders (and perhaps other arachnids?) can be killed with pyrethrins, which are found in many insecticides, you have to hit the spider directly. It won’t be killed by residue, like insects would. And insecticides without pyrethrins would be a lot less effective.

I don’t know what they use to fumigate imported fruits, but I’d guess pyrethrins or pyrethroids, since they are less toxic to humans than a lot of the organophosphates they might use otherwise.

This pest management site from the University of California Ag program actually recommends squishing pest spiders with a newspaper or your shoe. [www.ipm.ucdavis.edu]

(they actually recommend sealing cracks and preventing spider habitats as a first line of defense, but I thought it was nice they gave a formal recommendation to squishing. Even though I am a fan of spiders).

I usually don’t mind spiders, either. But living in black widow country, you have to be pretty aggressive about them invading your space. (Most other spiders, I’ll leave be)

My favorite methods for killing spiders in their webs (where you’ll usually find black widows, and where they’re hard to swat, as they can get away before you crush them against some surface) are barbecue lighters, and soft-air BB guns.

@i_love_life: Poor spiders :-( I live far from black widow country & read Charlotte’s Web too many times, so my perspective might be skewed. But I generally find them fascinating and helpful. Squishing is only for mosquitoes!

I could see how something that small could get through the process, maybe they need to start sending fruits shipped like that through a car wash like process before putting them on boats or trucks and sending it out.

I don’t kill them either, but if a great big one builds a web near the door, I knock it down repeatedly until it goes away. I have no desire to walk out the door and face first into a huge web and get a big, fat, juicy spider in my hair.

@rockasocky: that movie resulted in me freaking out whenever i see a spider, especially if I’m about to go to sleep. And a little while ago I saw a dark spider about 1″ in size in the bathtub, and I screamed bloody murder. Yeah, seeing that movie at the tender age of 7 was not a good thing for me.

@IHaveAFreezeRay:
…and I hate people who hate bugs and arachnids. How pea-brained do you have to be to fear and loathe an entire category of (fascinating, amazing, stunning gorgeous down to the tiniest bristle) natural life? Especially when less than one in a thousand species can harm you in any way, they’re completely vital to the ecosystem and comprise the vast majority of life on this planet? Arthropods are the normal example of an animal, you are not. You’re just disrespectful and infantile.

@TerrenceShella: Whoa, ease up. Props for the arthropod appreciation, but some people have an immediate, instinctive reaction to bugs (or reptiles, or rodents…). It might be intellectually irrational, but it does seem to be deeply ingrained in some. Feel free to preach the wonders of the insect world to whomever you can, but calling people “pea-brained” over this is what’s disrespectful.

Why do people hate on Wal-Mart? Because someone was human and tried to laugh off an insect that hitched a ride on some banana’s? Sorry if not all humans act like an insect in your fruit isn’t the most deadliest thing they have ever been exposed to.

I feel the same sentiment as samurailynn wondering who he can blame for the spiders in his yard.

But yeah Ben, this kinda stuff only happens to Wal-mart which coincidently is the only place of employment for jackasses. You would never have an employee handle a customer complaint wrong at any where else. And actually just because he wasn’t sympathetic doesn’t mean he handled wrong as the woman did get a refund didn’t they? Actually they did, twice. But how dare anyone joke about how scorpions are cool. I mean they don’t sell them as pets in stores or anything.

@snoop-blog: You know, if it was a small spider, or a caterpillar, or a ladybug, I don’t think people would mind. A scorpion though? Not like everybody knows which ones are or are not that deadly. I’m sure you know of someone in your life that would freak out if that happened to them…I know I would. And at the very least, going back to that store and notifying management can possibly result in a thorough inspection of the bananas so that more of the little things didn’t get through.

@katiat325: So are you suggesting the common person knows which spiders are or are not poisonous? I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to tell ya.

Anyhow, you missed my point. Complaining to Wal-Mart is fine and dandy. It’s where Ben writes this thing to sound as if Wal-Mart is to blame for an insect on some frikin fruit is utterly rediculous. But hey maybe it’s because all their other editors are gone and they are just trying to get by. Sorry Ben, It is just that I know you are so much better than that, and I think you know it too.

While I believe that Wal-Mart is a terrible company, a terrible employer, and a terrible drain on local communities, and the US government’s coffers both, and a huge receiver of governmental and local welfare, this is a case where they did nothing wrong.

@snoop-blog: Whilst I can understand why you think this is a bit of an overreaction, if I had a six month old and found a scorpion – something you don’t find in your back garden every day – on something, and when I returned it people acted like I should be *glad* or just shook off my concerns by making a joke, I’d be bloody angry too.

@snoop-blog: ummm… because it happened at walmart [or a walmart owned store, which americans wouldn’t recognize the name of]? if it had happened at kroger or giant eagle or piggly wiggly or some other such place, i’m sure it would have been put on here just the same.

especially if it happened at like whole foods. oh my god, that would be the best story ever. woman buys five pounds of bananas for $20, gets scorpion. win!

My roommate in California had a big black pet scorpion in a tank. He wanted a tarantula, but I said no freaking way. I told him the scorpion was slightly better, but if it got out and came in my room, I would SQUASH IT FLAT.

BFD. tiny scorpion in your bananas. You know they just brushed him off and put them back on the shelf. It’s not like the time they found that viper or whatever that bit someone in the watermellon box. I’d love to get a scorpion on my bunch of bananas. Saves me the trouble of going out and buying a scorpion. Ya know, to mount into a jack-in-the-box. So when the music stops…. BAM! Scorpion in the face.

Shhhhhhhh…double refund or everyone will want a free scorpion with their bananas.

Note; My husband has a friend who worked in the produce department at a supermarket at one time in his life and he explained that bananas come in green and get sprayed with ethylene gas to ripen them and prolong their shelf life.

this is a regular occurrence with bananas – their packaging is designed so that they ripen during the trip to their destination. the gas given off by the bananas actually heats the contents of the box, allowing critters to survive the trip.

i used to pull all kinds of interesting things out of those boxes – even a (dead) black widow once. word to the wise: inspect your produce before purchasing it. especially bananas.

@mac-phisto: Now I wouldn’t have took this post to be a Wal-Mart bashing one if maybe Ben would have said a little of what you said. this was no PSA. This was a way to hate on Wal-Mart as if other grocers are immune to this type of occurance.

Or that’s how I took it anyway. I may be a little defensive, but I’ve read this site enough to know how the editors feel about certain companies. It’s like they just can’t wait to bash em.

The Consumerist headline isn’t actually reporting what the newspaper article claims. The lady found the scorpion in the jeans she was ironing, not in the bananas. Why she’s decided it’s from the bananas before that is never explained, but the store says that the scorpion isn’t even native to the part of the world where its bananas are sourced.

I join the above posters in finding it less than alarming that somebody may suffer a boo-boo anyway, but we may have a bit of urban legendry being propagated here.

@floraposte: I would be much more alarmed if I found a bug in my jeans, regardless of what kind it was rather than find one on bananas. I hate bugs just as much as any other girl but finding one in clothing would be so much more creepy than finding one on bananas.

@floraposte: I didn’t read the article but I’m actually a little surprised, if they’re claiming this is an Israeli scorpion found in a shipment of Israeli bananas, only because I don’t think Israel is quite up to speed on banana export. As far as I can remember they are not quite up to that level of growth that they have enough volume to export globally, especially not the size of the bunch of bananas she’s holding in that picture. Last time I drove past some banana tree groves (about 2 years ago), I was struck by how far behind they were compared to the “typical” “Chiquita” banana we’re familiar with. They looked more like the plantains I see sometimes on sale in ethnic markets in NY.

Bananas and pineapples, they’re still working to bring them up to global standards as far making them competitive, as far as I know.

Of course, “Israeli Gold” may refer to the species without relating to the place of origin, I don’t know anything about the subect. Just off the top of my head, I wondered whether they were talking about an Israeli export it Iem. It does make sense geographically, I think – I saw banana groves in kibbutzim in the desert, so it makes sense that scorpions might hitch a ride with the shipments.

I’ve found the molted shells of Tarantulas in banana boxes back in the late 90’s when I worked at a local supermarket chain. Where the spider went, I do not know, but it’s scary as hell to find it’s mere shell staring at you.

For those who have never seen a Tarantula molt before, it’s usually intact and looks like a carbon copy of the spider that created it, and in low light, indistinguishable from a real living spider.

I can vouch for the pain of a scorpion sting. Back in ’93, when I was 6 months pregnant with my second child, I stepped on a scorpion in our laundry room. I didn’t have my contacts in and thought I had stepped on a sewing needle and had it stuck in my foot. We lived way out in the sticks, so scorpions, spiders, snakes, etc. were a way of life.

Because I was pregnant we called up poison control and described the scorpion. They said it was no more dangerous than a bee sting. Mind you, this was an east-of-the-Mississippi, small scorpion. I think the ones out in the desert southwest – the really big ones – can be very dangerous.

I seriously do not see why she didn’t flick the scorpion off (or put it in a jar for the kid, okay its 9 months ;p) and go on with life. Having to get a refund for it? SHE ACTUALLY TRAVELED BACK TO THE STORE WITH IT? Give me a break.

Speaking of “double refund” — I bought some hamburger from local Safeway. Cooked up some, froze some. Tasted funny. Checked package. “sell by” date was a day BEFORE we bought it. Took it, the package and receipt to the store. Manager offered refund, I said “how about refund AND free meat?” He agreed. Got the refund and a FRESH pack the same size. Problem solved.

I once found some sort of lizard in the asparagus at the local Meijer. I kind of thought the lady was hallucinating when she told me about it, but there it was, cute as a button and looking a little bit confused.

So, when’s Wal-Mart going to start putting useful things in the food? It’s always bugs, bugs, bugs, other disgusting things, and more bugs. Give me lotto numbers (winning ones preferred) or cold, hard cash. Why does it all have to be so negative?

i used to work in a certified organic produce department, and finding deadly spiders (black widow, brown recluse..etc) in the grapes happened on a daily basis. i would package them up in deli containers (with warning labels and lots of tape) and leave them for my manager to find in the morning. a rather sad attempt at humor from a complete arachnaphobic.
and to this day i still hate grapes.

Besides the fact that they’re disgusting, I’ll put this as #2 on the list of the reasons why I don’t eat bananas. #1 (disgusting) is sufficient, but I like long lists.

Something gross I found this morning? The daddy long legs I named Buddy III that I let live in my bathroom was killed and eaten by Buddy IV, who has now taken his spot. Cannibal Buddy IV left only the legs dangling from a web. I think I’m going to go Dexter on Buddy IV and right this wrong.

I love scorpions, because anytime the subject comes up I can relate my ever-so-exciting scorpion sting story…

‘Twas a star-filled night over the Arizona desert. I was heartily enjoying my Circle-K Nachos when I noticed a tiny little crumb on my thigh. I absentmindedly moved my hand down to brush the crumb away. The crumb got very mad at my failure to notice he wasn’t a crumb at all, but in fact a scary scorpion, and he stung the fuck out of me right between my fingers, to teach me a lesson. Lesson Learned, respect crumbs.

It was much like something was stuck in my skin, to me it felt like a sliver of broken glass, and though I didn’t touch the spot, it felt like I was mashing down on it. In 15 minutes my entire arm was numb up to the shoulder.

My date, having passed out on the couch after ingesting his own tasty Nachos, grunted at me as I screamed in pain and asked him to take me to the hospital. Since the fuck had been stung out of me anyway, he apparently didn’t see the point in bothering with all my shrieking nonsense, and he was no help.

My good arm and I found our way to the hospital, where I sat in the emergency waiting room for 4 hours until I gave up and went to the Casino instead.

Man I would FLIP OUT if I found a large arachnid (even if it was dead) in my nanners.

I remember one time outside a CostPlus World Market, I saw a deck-of-cards-sized beetle (flattened by a car, probably) in the parking lot and I freaked so bad I couldn’t even scream. Even thinking about it makes me feel icky. My husband guessed that since the store carries a lot of furniture made in more tropical parts of the world, it had made the long voyage all the way to MN (but for naught).

I disagree with Floraposte. The species of scorpion is native to the African continent (where the bananas came from), the Middle East, and Asia Minor. Besides, the little buggers make the bananas crunchy!